1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to fishing generally and, in particular, to a teaser apparatus resembling a school of small bait fish to which large target fish will be attracted during offshore fishing in large bodies of water like oceans, seas and gulfs.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
It has been a problem in the prior art to develop a teaser device which is simple to make and easy to use with successful fishing results. Although others have tried, their devices are complicated to make and difficult to use with undocumented fishing results. Such devices are also expensive to manufacture and consequently costly for the fishers who buy them.
In offshore fishing, these teaser devices are commonly used to attract large target fish to a boat on which fishers are waiting. Such teaser devices are usually made up of imitation plastic baits to mimic a school of smaller fish which are hookless and pulled closely behind the boat. Hooked dead fish or artificial baits are placed near the teaser device and are usually hit first by the larger target fish because the baits appear to be more vulnerable, struggling live fish. Because they are stragglers, they are a slight distance from the main group of bait fish.
This method of fishing is used when trolling at normal speeds of six or more miles per hour. These speeds are required for both the teaser device and the hooked baits to achieve a swimming-like motion. Also at these speeds, natural dead bait fish and imitation plastic lures are required because live bait fish cannot survive while being hooked and pulled at such speeds.
Clearly, the preferred method of offshore fishing is with live small bait fish. This type of fishing is done at drift or very slow speeds of zero to one mile per hour so that the hooked live bait fish can survive. Current teaser devices are ineffective at drift or very slow speeds because they rapidly sink as soon as the boat stops and becomes motionless.
For example, Gifford discloses, in his Publication No. US 2004/0159037, which was published on Aug. 19, 2004, a fishing device using a flat, clear, flexible, plastic sheet having two-dimensional bait fish decals adhered on the surface of the sheet and also having a rigid bar at its leading edge. The fishing device may be used in moving water, such as a stream or river, where the fishing device remains relatively stationary and the water moves past it to create an image of a school of fish in the water and also to keep the fishing device afloat. Although Gifford states in his paragraph [0010] that his fishing device may also be used in still water, such as a lake or pond, it will not work there because he does not use a second floatable spreader bar at or near the end of the plastic sheet to prevent the sheet from collapsing and sinking. Furthermore, Gifford makes no suggestion about replacing his two-dimensional bait fish decals with three-dimensional bait fish, whether imitation, live or dead, on or under the plastic sheet.
Kilander in his U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,345, which was issued on Sep. 14, 1999, discloses a fishing lure having a collar to which a transparent sheet is looped to form a cylindrical wind sock. Two-dimensional bait fish indicia are affixed to the sheet. The fishing device gives the impression of a school of swimming fish when pulled through the water. A cut extending around the tail of each indicia makes the tail flip to provide life-like action of each indicia.
Wisenhunt in his U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,461, which was issued on May 19, 1998, shows in his FIG. 1 the use of a pair of teaser lines extending from outriggers in combination with parallel hooked lines.
Layson in his U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,518, which was issued on Nov. 5, 1985, discloses a pair of thin, transparent, plastic sheets which are vertically oriented in shallow water and to which several different kinds of three-dimensional fish images are stacked therebetween.
Layson describes in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,186,120, which was issued on Jun. 1, 1965, a transparent, waterproof, flexible, plastic sheet vertically oriented in shallow water of a lake or stream and configured to carry a plurality of three-dimensional fish images intended as decoys to attract real fish.
Thus, it remains a problem in the prior art to provide a teaser apparatus for successfully attracting large target fish to a teaser device behind a boat during offshore fishing.